Catharina Theresia Smeets

Geslacht:	Vrouw
Vader:	Pieter Joseph Smeets
Moeder:	Anna Maria Catharina Vinken
Geboren:	3 Juli 1889	Kerkrade
Overleden:	31 OKT 1945	Kerkrade
Beroep:		fabrieksarbeidster
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Herinx First Name: Theresa Maiden Name: Smeets Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Female Place during the war: Kerkrade, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Kerkrade, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/8809) Josef Herinx lived with his wife Liesbeth, their two young children and her Jewish father, Simon Trompetter, in a small apartment in Kerkrade (prov. Limburg). Josef was active in a local resistance cell. In early May 1943, Josef was approached by an underground student group in Amsterdam to find a hiding place for 15-year-old André Neuburger. He agreed and so André was brought to the Herinx home, equipped with false identity papers. Since Josef Herinx often had Jewish children in his home on a temporary basis, André was moved to the home of Josef's mother, Theresa Herinx, who was living with her oldest son Piet and youngest daughter Annie only one block away. Soon, André felt part of this extended family. He was introduced as an orphan who had lost his parents in the May 1940 bombing of Rotterdam. Having solid false papers, he was able to go outside, and so he would help Josef in delivering newspapers in the area. He often was at the home of Josef and Liesbeth, where he saw a number of the temporary Jewish lodgers, mostly very young children. Among them was four-year-old Evelyn Turk (later Bitter). A warm father-son relationship developed between Josef Herinx and André. He even arranged weekly private lessons on his own account for André so that he would not miss out too much on his schooling. Towards the end of the war, Theresa's home was raided a number of times by the Dutch pro-Nazi auxiliary police force (Landwacht). André, another lodger and older son Piet were arrested. Through the intervention of a local policeman, they were luckily released soon after. With the liberation of Kerkrade in the fall of 1944, the Herinxes welcomed an Jewish American soldier, Morris Hecht, to their home, until his unit was ready to invade Germany. After the liberation of the rest of the country in the spring of 1945, André returned to Amsterdam where he discovered that his parents had been murdered in Sobibór. Soon afterwards he moved to Canada, but visited the Herinxes every time he came to the Netherlands. On April 2, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Josef Herinx and his mother Theresa Herinx-Smeets, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Johann Joseph Herinx	geb. 1885 overl. 1 Nov 1937
Huwelijk:	24 Feb 1911	Kerkrade
Kinderen:
	Sofia Herinx	geb. 17 OKT 1915 overl. 6 Jan 1916
	Pieter Herinx	geb. 1 MRT 1913
	Jan Jozef Herinx	geb. 29 Nov 1911 overl. 7 Juli 1985
	Maria Katharina Herinx	geb. 2 Juli 1914